Kamikatsu in Japan used to incinerate all of their waste until 2003 when they decided to start the zero waste program. Since then 80% of their waste is reused, recycled or composted. They have 34 different sections to separate their rubbish into including different types of plastics, metals and papers. Though it does some time consuming and difficult, the impact on the environment is incredible. They also have a store within the town where they can take unwanted clothes or furniture and swap it with other people's unwanted things. They also reuse old clothes to make new things like teddy bears from old kimonos. I think this has really worked for Kamikatsu because they are a small town. If this was to take effect in a big city then a lot more people would oppose the idea and not follow the strict rules.
On the same Youtube channel I came across another video of a woman who tried to produce zero waste over a year.
Rachel studied environmental sciences and decided one day, looking at all of her food wrapped in plastic containers and bags in her fridge that something needed to change. Any rubbish she can't figure out what to do with she puts in a jar. She started composting her food waste and buying in bulk to eliminate 80% of her waste. Like with my zero waste store, she uses all of her own containers to buy her foods, from using a jar to fill her oil to finding a brewery that would fill reusable glass bottles with beer for her. Although it seems that she has cut a lot of things out of her life that would produce waste, for example, she makes her own toothpaste to save buying it in non-recyclable tubes. She also makes sure all of her makeup comes in recyclable packaging.
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